More than a quarter of NY districts don’t have teacher eval plans

Even though the deadline to have a teacher evaluation plan in place is just a month away, only 442 of the state’s 700 school districts have met the terms. Twenty-seven districts, including a few in our backyard have not even submitted plans.

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo reiterated that his deadline of January 17 was firm and that he would not budge. Here’s the press release from the state Education Department:

State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. announced that he has approved 442 district teacher and principal Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) evaluation plans. To date, 665 school districts have submitted APPR plans for review. In addition to the 442 district plans approved, State Education Department (SED) staff has provided feedback on submitted evaluation plans to more than 180 of the school districts that do not yet have approved plans. The plans were submitted as required under the revised teacher and principal evaluation law passed earlier this year. Approximately two dozen districts, including New York City, have not submitted APPR plans.
“Evaluation plans are an integral part of the Board of Regents Reform Agenda,” Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said. “Teacher evaluations are vital to help identify struggling teachers and provide them with the professional development they need. And they help identify excellent teachers who can serve as mentors and role models. These plans are a critical tool to ensure all of our kids have a high quality teacher at the front of the classroom. It is urgent that those districts that have not submitted evaluation plans or need to resubmit plans do so immediately. Our students are waiting.”
King said the approval process at SED is on track.
“We’re providing constant feedback to school districts,” King said. “And hundreds of districts and local unions have worked hard and gotten the job done. But there are still districts that have more work to do. We’ve given more than 180 districts feedback and told them how to correct the problems in their plans. Now they have to fix those problems and resubmit.
“This is not just about the increase in aid. It’s about helping students. APPR plans focus on effective teaching. The plans will help principals and teachers improve their practice and help students graduate ready for college and careers. But the clock is ticking. The Governor and Legislature set a deadline of January 17. There are still over two dozen districts that have not submitted APPR plans. The longer they wait, the more difficult it will be to complete our review by the deadline. We’ll move as fast as we can, but we will not sacrifice the quality of the review.”

King noted that under the enacted state budget, school districts must have an approved APPR plan in place by January 17, 2013 or they will lose their share of this fiscal year’s education aid increase. King said his staff is expediting its review of submitted APPR plans, but typically reviews take four to six weeks to complete.
Updated lists of approved APPR plans can be found at: http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers-leaders/plans/home.html. The website is updated on an on-going basis.
As of December 18, the following 27 districts have not submitted any plans for review: Altmar Parish, Cobleskill-Richmondville, Coxsackie-Athens, East Ramapo, Elizabethtown, Elmont, Fallsburg, Greenburgh-North Castle, Hamburg, Harrison, Hempstead, Hopevale, Hyde Park, Montauk, New York City, New York Mills, North Greenbush, North Syracuse, Onteora, Pine Plains, Remsen, Rhinebeck, Rondout Valley, Sauquoit Valley, Schoharie, Scotia-Glenville, and Yonkers.

Scott Waldman

2 Responses

Since the plan has to be approved via collective bargaining I assume that the teachers unions are the hold up. NYC will lose $300 million if they don’t get the plan done on time. They should just split the money that districts like NYC will lose among the districts who got their plan in on time.